Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening

Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening is the third game in the Devil May Cry series. It is a prequel to the first Devil May Cry game, making it the first game in the series chronologically.

Dante's twin brother, Vergil, and a man named Arkham release the ancient tower of Temen-ni-gru from below a modern city and conspire to use Dante to unlock the gate to the demonic realm. While working toward confronting his brother, Dante encounters Lady, a fellow devil hunter, and the mysterious Jester, an enigmatic figure that aids Dante throughout his journey.

Gameplay
Devil May Cry 3 plays very differently from its predecessors although the premise still remains the same: slaying demons while solving puzzles to progress through the levels.

Unlike the first and second game, Devil May Cry 3 puts much more emphasis on style rather than simple demon slaying. As such, combat is much more intense and faster than before. Players can now switch between both Devil Arms and firearms with the R2 and L2 buttons, allowing for a very powerful and stylish string of combos. Marin Posaric is currently known as the best player of this game and it is believed that he has passed all missions with an S rank on Hard Mode. The Stylish Rank is now represented by a gauge. As players land successful hits and dodge attacks, the gauge increases. Once filled up, it will go up a rank.

Stylish Rankings:
 * Dope!
 * Crazy!
 * Blast!
 * Alright!
 * Sweet!
 * SShowtime!
 * SSStylish!

If the player takes any damage, the gauge will be reset at a lower level and if the same attack is repeated over and over again, the gauge will not increase until a new one is performed.

In addition, players are free to choose how to go about each mission through Styles, which change the way Dante fights, thus allowing diverse ways to gain Stylish points. Trickster focuses on evasion techniques, allowing the player to deftly dodge attacks of any kind. They essentially increase Dante's speed and helps increase the Stylish gauge by using such evasive abilities. Swordmaster focuses on Devil Arms/melee combat. It allows maximum use of such weapons to their fullest extent and is recommended for those, who prefer close-quarters combat. Gunslinger brings about the best in each firearm allowing the player to unleash devastating firepower at a distance. Royalguard is arguably the strongest and hardest style to master. It allows the player to effectively guard and counter any attack delivered towards Dante and turn their powers back at them. Recommended for expert players, Royalguard is the hardest to master, but once perfected, makes Dante invincible. Later in the game, players can gain two extra styles: Quicksilver, which slows down time while allowing the player to move at normal speed, and Doppelganger, which animates the user's shadow to assist in offense.

Special Edition
Devil May Cry 3: Special Edition is a re-release of Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening with an impressive list of added content:
 * It is now possible to play as Vergil on a separate save file. Vergil fights with only 3 weapons (Yamato, Beowulf, and Force Edge) and only has one style, Dark Slayer. He plays through the same levels as Dante but without the voiced cutscenes and behaves like him during scripted scenes. He also still fights a "Vergil" boss three times, however, this boss has a red coat to differentiate it from player Vergil. Players have nicknamed the character "Vante" to resolve confusion.
 * The game modes were shifted down so that the Special Edition's Normal mode is equivalent to the original's Easy mode, and a new Very Hard mode was added to replace the original Hard mode.
 * The Bloody Palace from Devil May Cry 2 was also added, though it ends at the 9999th floor instead of restarting, and beating it with either character allows them to obtain their first Super costume.
 * The "Demo Digest" mode was added. It allows the player to view any previously seen cutscene from the main menu.
 * Three boss fights were created for Dante to fight the Jester character - the first of these is mandatory, while the next two are optional. Vergil can also fight him, although it is not mandatory for him either.
 * The Super glitch in the first game was corrected so that Quicksilver and Doppelganger still drain energy, even while using the Super costumes. However, the new Super Legendary Dark Knight costume was added which preserved the glitch.

Plot
Devil May Cry 3 begins with Dante, in his yet-to-be-named shop, where a visitor named Arkham enters and sends an invitation to Dante from his twin brother Vergil. This "invitation" is a demon attack. After Dante defeats the enemies that surround the outside of his shop, an immense tower erupts from the ground, wherein the tower is in the vicinity of the area. Sensing Vergil atop the tower, he accepts the "invitation".

At the tower's entrance, Dante encounters Cerberus(a massive 3 headed dog) who believes Dante to be a normal human so Dante defeats him. Acknowledging Dante's power, Cerberus gives Dante his soul in the form of a weapon. This turns into a pattern wherein if a certain boss is defeated, they will give Dante their souls in the form of weapons. Dante is then attacked by a woman on a motorcycle, Lady, while Dante is moving on. It is revealed later that Arkham is working for Vergil and they plan to take Dante's half of the amulet their mother gave them and use its power to reactivate the tower's ability to connect the human and demon worlds forming an action that is similar to a Hell Gate. It is also revealed that Arkham is Lady's father, that he murdered her mother, and that she is pursuing him to seek revenge.

After numerous encounters with demons while climbing the tower, Dante meets Jester, a mysterious being that resides within the tower. He also encounters Lady again who got her nickname, "Lady", from Dante because of her rejection to use her real name, Mary, that was given to her by her father. Soon, Dante reaches the tower's summit and battles Vergil. Vergil emerges victorious by stabbing Dante with his own sword. He takes Dante's half of the amulet and departs. Because Rebellion has "tasted" Dante's blood, his dormant devil powers emerge and soon sets off in pursuit of Vergil.

Arkham later on opens the door to the control room located at the tower's basement. After that, Vergil senses Arkham's apparent concern for his daughter after his failure to kill her and dispatches of Arkham as the final door is open and that he doesn't need him anymore. Dante eventually catches up to Vergil in the control room, who apparently can't reactivate the tower. Vergil battles Dante in hopes that more of Sparda's blood will make the tower reactivate, in which he implies this blood to be of his brother's. They seem evenly matched until they are interrupted by Lady after which the brothers are wounded and weak. They are soon interrupted by Jester, who knocks out Lady and reveals that he is in fact Arkham, and has been manipulating them all to reactivate the tower for his own goals. Arkham plans to go to the demon world and acquire the Force Edge which contains the bulk of Sparda's power and use it to rule over the world. He also reveals that Vergil was missing a part for the reactivation of the tower, the blood of a human priestess where it happens to be that Lady is related to the said priestess and soon sacrifices some of Lady's blood to break the spell that holds the tower. The tower then transforms, carrying Arkham upwards to the summit, while Vergil vanishes in the confusion.

Dante battles his way back up the tower, and eventually fights Lady for the right to pursue Arkham. Dante wins and Lady lends him her most powerful weapon, the Kalina Ann. Reaching the summit once again, Dante crosses over to the demon world and catches up with Arkham, who has assumed Sparda's demonic form. Overwhelmed by the power, Arkham transforms into a blob-like creature and battles Dante. Halfway through the fight, as Arkham gloats that Dante has no chance against his father's power, Vergil reappears and the two brothers fight together to defeat Arkham. Using Dante's guns, Ebony & Ivory, to finally defeat Arkham while shouting "Jackpot!". Arkham is thrown out of the demon world in a weakened state and lands atop the tower, where Lady kills him. In the demon world, Dante and Vergil battle over ownership of the Force Edge and the halves of the amulet. After an epic battle, Dante is victorious. As the portal closes, Vergil decides to stay behind, falls then vanishes into the darkness with a half of the amulet.

Returning to the human world, Dante meets Lady outside the tower where she coins the phrase "devil may cry" while trying to comfort Dante over the loss of his brother. They form a friendship and the beginnings of a partnership in demon-slaying. He later on names his shop "Devil May Cry". By accomplishing certain conditions, there is an extra scene that shows Vergil's fate. Still in the demon world severely weakened yet determined, he encounters Mundus, his father's old enemy, and charges into battle against him. His fate is later on revealed in Devil May Cry.

Difficulty Modes
Devil May Cry 3 is said to be the most difficult game in the series, and the original release is often regarded as one of the most difficult games of all time. Enemies and bosses generally get tougher while the player gets weaker as the difficulty increases.

Devil Arms

 * Rebellion
 * Cerberus
 * Agni & Rudra
 * Nevan
 * Beowulf

Fire Arms

 * Ebony & Ivory
 * Shotgun
 * Artemis
 * Spiral
 * Kalina Ann

Costumes
Devil May Cry 3 boasts the most alternate costumes for Dante to date, with his DMC1 outfit, two "coatless" variants, a Sparda outfit, and two "Super" costumes. Vergil has his own set of wardrobe changes, including a coatless version of his standard look, a variant on Sparda's outfit, and two "Super"costumes.

Awards
In the edition packaged with the Devil May Cry HD Collection, players can unlock PS3 Trophies and Xbox 360 Achievements for their exploits.

Trivia

 * Every chapter beginning cutscenes has a number shown at the end of the ending cutscene (i.e. The chapter 3 shows Lady with her motorcycle, making the Two Hell Prides and a Hell Lust burn and form "3" or Arkham's blood to form number "11").


 * This is the only game in the series that has "multiplayer" mode. To do this, the second player must get a second controller and press start while the first player uses the Doppelganger Style's "After-image", or when Vergil joins the fight with Arkham. The second player will control a downgraded Vergil with lesser combos than normal, but with infinite health.